1 -- $Id: TO-DO,v 1.39 1998/07/12 00:25:39 tom Exp $
3 SHORT-TERM TO-DO ITEMS:
7 * GNAT does not put libraries in the correct order, so a build only links
8 properly if you use shared libraries since -lncurses is first.
10 * XPG4 specifies that the enhanced features are not available unless the
11 _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED test macro is defined by the application. Ncurses uses
12 this macro (incorrectly) to address a dependency upon wchar_t. The functions
13 which use wchar_t are not implemented, so the effect of the test macro is
16 * The screen optimization has been tested only in an ad hoc manner. We should
17 develop a good set of regression tests to cover lib_doupdate.c and
20 * Magic cookie support does not work, since the logic does not take into account
21 refresh. Also, the initial optimize does not adjust the current location
22 when a cookie is emitted.
24 * Scrolling optimization has holes: for example, it forces repaints of the
25 screen between calls to refresh().
27 * SVr4 uses slightly different rules for determining when softkeys are shown.
28 For example, they are initially displayed (before the ncurses 'e' test
29 activates them), and a touchwin can apparently also force them to be
32 + The code departs from perfect 8-bit cleanness in one respect; you cannot
33 specify a character \200 as part of a capability string, because the terminfo
34 library interprets \200 as a request to embed NUL (\000) at that point. This
35 is a legacy terminfo property we can't mess with.
37 * The window classes defined in the c++ subdirectory need documentation.
38 Some C++ programmer could earn a lot of good karma by doing this...
40 Portability (or lack thereof):
42 * Users of older System V UNIXes (but not Solaris, and probably not SVr4)
43 may trip over a known problem with the signal-handling code which causes
44 abrupt termination of ncurses applications following resume from a ^Z
45 suspend (this problem was first seen running lynx). You will not see
46 this problem if you are running Linux or one of the 4.4BSD derivatives
47 like FreeBSD, NetBSD, or BSDI. For details, see the analysis in the
48 header comment of ncurses/lib_tstp.c.
50 * In theory, vwprintw and vwscanf are supposed to use the older varargs.h
51 interface for handling variadic argument lists. Linux doesn't have
52 varargs.h, it has the newer X/Open-standard stdargs.h equivalent. So
53 these functions use stdargs instead. This is unlikely to be a problem
54 unless you're building ncurses on a System V old enough to only have
55 varargs.h. (Solaris 2.5.1 uses the stdarg.h binding as well).
57 * If you're using a BSD earlier than 4.4BSD, or a Linux old enough not to
58 have a native vsscanf(3) in its library, vwscanw() will not work. You lose.
59 (It should work on any System V, however). If you want to fix this, add
60 an implementation to ncurses/vsscanf.c.
62 * The demo build for the c++ library craps out with many link errors under gcc
63 2.6.3. We're told the C++ support in 2.6.3 is broken and that the right
64 fix is to upgrade to 2.7.0. This demo is also known to not build with
65 the Sun SPARCworks 4.1 C++ compiler, due to a problem resolving templates.
67 * Under Ultrix, configure craps out (Ultrix sh is lame). Run it under ksh.
69 * We've not tested the configure script with cross-compilers. The autoconf
70 tests are supposed to be able to support this (please report bugs). You will
71 have to configure and build in two steps. The first step must create the
72 automatically-generated sources (e.g., comp_captab.c) on your host machine.
73 Then, run "make mostlyclean", remove config.* from the top-level directory
74 and configure for the cross-compiler.
76 + terminfo.5 does not format with the SunOS (and most other platform's) tbl
77 utility because it relies on a diversion for each table entry. Get the groff
82 * The code for the HP color model using set_color_pair is untested.
84 * The code for handling soft labels on a terminal type with built-in support
85 for them (num_labels > 0, label_height, label_width, label_format, label_off,
86 label_on, plab_norm, lab_f*) has not been tested. The label_format and
87 lab_f* capabilities aren't presently used.
89 LONGER-TERM TO-DO ITEMS:
91 1. Extended COSE conformance
93 There is an XPG4 standard recently released which describes a superset
94 of the SVr4 API. The library is BASE conformant with this standard.
95 We would like to make ncurses fully conformant at the EXTENDED level
96 supporting internationalization.
98 Here are page references to all material involving wide or multi-byte
99 characters in Issue 4 of the XSI Curses standard, with notes on their
100 status in this implementation:
102 Page 1 (1.1.2) New Features discussion of internationalization.
103 Page 12 (2.4): Definition of cchar_t, wchar_t.
104 Page 16 (3.3.2): Introduction of multi-column characters.
105 Page 17-18 (3.3.5): Description of non-spacing characters.
106 Page 19-21 (3.4.2): Basic character operations.
107 Page 34 (addnstr): These should now call underlying wide-
108 character functions, and do (through waddnstr) if _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED is on).
109 Page 35 (addnwstr): wide-character add-string functions. All macros
110 except waddnwstr() which is not yet defined.
111 Page 36 (add_wch): wide-character add-char functions. All macros
112 except wadd_wch() which is not yet defined.
113 Page 39 (attr_get): implemented -- we've just made the current-
114 attributes field of the window an attr_t.
115 Page 43 (bkgrnd): None of these are implemented.
116 Page 45 (border_set): Neither of these is implemented.
117 Page 47 (box_set): box_set implemented as macro, but the underlying
118 wborder_set() is not yet defined.
119 Page 78 (echo_wchar): echo_wchar() implemented as macro, underlying
120 wecho_wchar() not yet implemented.
121 Page 81 (erasechar): Neither entry point is implemented.
122 Page 87 (getbkgrnd): Not implemented.
123 Page 88 (getcchar): Not implemented.
124 Page 93 (getn_wstr): All implemented (as macros) except the
125 underlying wgetn_wstr().
126 Page 97 (get_wch): All implemented (as macros) except the
127 underlying wget_wch().
128 Page 99 (get_wstr): Xref to page 93.
129 Page 105 (hline_set): All implemented (as macros) except the
130 underlying whline_set(), wvline_set().
131 Page 114 (innstr): Multi-byte character-completeness check is
133 Page 115 (innwstr): All implemented (as macros) except the
134 underlying winnw_str().
135 Page 119 (insnstr): Implementation may not be correct for multi-byte
137 Page 120 (ins_nwstr): Not implemented.
138 Page 121 (insstr): Xref to page 119.
139 Page 122 (instr): Xref to page 119.
140 Page 123 (ins_wch): Not implemented.
141 Page 124 (ins_wstr): Xref to page 120.
142 Page 126 (in_wch): Not implemented.
143 Page 127 (in_wchnstr): Not implemented.
144 Page 128 (inwstr): Xref to page 115.
145 Page 133 (killwchar): killwchar not implemented.
146 Page 158 (pechochar): pecho_wchar() not implemented.
147 Page 176 (setcchar): Not implemented.
148 Page 181 (slk_attroff): slk_wset not implemented.
149 Page 200 (ungetch): unget_wch() not implemented.
150 Page 203 (vidattr): vid_attr() and vid_puts() not implemented.
151 Page 206 (vline_set): Xref to page 105.
152 Page 214 (wunctrl): Not implemented.
153 Page 216 (curses.h): cchar_t, wint_t, wchar_t references.
154 Page 220 (curses.h): KEY_CODE_YES
156 Basically, the macro superstructure is there but the core is absent. We
157 need better multi-locale support guarantees from the OS to finish this.
158 If you are working on internationalization support, please contact us so
163 Only 16 of the 55 files in the library depend on the terminfo format.
164 It should be possible to further kernelize the package, then rewrite
165 a small number of core files to produce a functionally-compatible
166 port that would do updates to a memory-mapped screen area. The first
167 result of this would be a DOS port.
171 It would be nice if ncurses could recognize when it was running under X and
172 maintain its own window. With this feature, all ncurses programs would
173 automatically become X programs. The challenge is to handle resize events
176 4. Unused capabilities
178 The currently unused capabilities fall naturally into several groups:
180 A. Status-line capabilities:
182 Booleans: has_status_line, status_line_esc_ok.
183 Numerics: width_status_line.
184 Strings: dis_status_line, from_status_line, to_status_line.
186 System V Release 1 curses made no use of these at all. SVr4's use, if
187 any, is unknown. From the AT&T termcap file it looks like curses, in general,
188 shouldn't use them; terminal variants with status lines have their line count
189 decremented by 1, suggesting that curses is supposed to leave the status line
192 B. Printer capabilities:
194 Boolean: col_addr_glitch, cr_cancels_micro_mode, has_print_wheel,
195 row_addr_glitch, semi_auto_right_margin, cpi_changes_res,
197 Numeric: buffer_capacity, dot_horz_spacing, dot_vert_spacing,
198 max_micro_address, max_micro_jump, micro_col_size,
199 micro_line_size, number_of_pins, output_res_char,
200 output_res_line, output_res_horz_inch, print_rate,
201 wide_char_size, bit_image_entwining, bit_image_type.
202 String: down_half_line, form_feed, up_half_line, set_left_margin,
203 set_right_margin, clear_margins, change_char_pitch
204 ... set_page_length (all the SVr4 printer caps),
206 Curses doesn't use these.
208 C. Printer-control capabilities:
210 Boolean: prtr_silent.
211 Strings: print_screen, prtr_on, prtr_off, prtr_non.
213 Curses doesn't use these.
217 Strings: hangup, dial_phone, quick_dial, tone, pulse, flash_hook,
218 fixed_pause, wait_tone.
220 Curses doesn't use these.
222 E. Window and virtual-terminal capabilities:
224 Numerics: maximum_windows, virtual_terminal.
225 Strings: req_for_input, create_window, goto_window, set_window.
227 These seem to be fossils from some AT&T experiments on character-based
228 window systems that never escaped the lab. The virtual_terminal cap had
229 something to do with building terminal emulations into tty line disciplines.
231 F. Unused VDT capabilities:
233 Booleans: erase_overstrike, has_meta_key, insert_null_glitch,
234 move_insert, dest_tabs_magic_smso, transparent_underline,
235 needs_xon_xoff, hard_cursor.
236 Numerics: lines_of_memory, buttons.
237 Strings: pkey_key, pkey_local, pkey_xmit, underline_char,
238 enter_xon_mode, exit_xon_mode, xon_character, xoff_character,
239 display_clock, remove_clock, user[0-5], display_pc_char,
240 enter_scancode_mode, exit_scancode_mode, pc_term_options,
241 scancode_escape, alt_scancode_esc.
243 These are the potentially important ones for ncurses. Notes:
245 i) ncurses doesn't need move_insert; it never uses cup/hpa/vpa while
248 ii) We probably don't care about dest_tabs_magic_smso; only
249 Telerays used it and they're all long obsolete.